Prom Night
by AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: When Petra's boyfriend breaks up with her and leaves her out in the rain on prom night, she finds an unlikely friend in Levi.


The rain fell in sheets, blanketing everything in a cold wetness that penetrated everything it touched. The wind was howling and screaming through the night air. Petra Ral sat on the curb near the center of town, tears running down her face as heavily as the rain was falling. Tonight was prom, something she'd been looking forward to for months, and here she was, dressed to the nines and the rain thoroughly ruining her dress. She was aware mud and gutter water were running her dress' hem but she couldn't care less. Utter despair ran through her veins as she sat alone.

Bright headlights zoomed past her like scurrying ghosts, not one bothering to stop and see if she was okay. Not that she really expected anyone to stop. There was always one girl every prom night that got stood up and ended up sobbing in some part of town. Petra just never thought she was going to be that girl. The familiar sound of tires rolling on the gravely, horribly-paved road clashed against her ears as a car came towards her, slowing down. Her hand flew to her eyes to block it out. The lights died and the car became silent. The door opened and in moments a familiar face was in front of her: Levi Ackerman, the punk in her math analysis class.

"Petra, what are you doing out here?" he asked, sharing his umbrella with her.

"I was walking and I needed to sit down for a moment," she sniffed, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. There was absolutely no way she was telling him what was wrong. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but frankly she didn't want to talk about it and she didn't know him well enough to tell him.

"You want a ride home?" he offered. She shook her head. Her parents would freak out if she came home like this. No, it'd be better just to find somewhere dry to stay until prom was over and then lie about the whole night.

"No, no thank you. I wasn't heading home."

"Then where were you going?" She shrugged, looking away from him. "I don't have anything going on tonight. You wanna come over to my house and watch shitty horror movies?"

"I . . . yeah, I'd like that." She didn't really like horror movies all that much but she needed to get out of the rain, that was for sure. Levi helped Petra up and into his car. She shivered as the warm air touched her cold wet skin. As soon as Levi turned the car on he put the heating on full blast.

"How long were you out there? You looked like someone threw you in a pool," he commented as he pulled away from the curb and back onto the street.

"I don't know. I wasn't paying attention to the time," she replied.

"I see." He paused, fiddling with the radio. "Are your parents expecting you back at a certain time? I'll drive you home once we're done watching movies."

"They just wanted me home by midnight."

"Wasn't prom supposed to end then?"

"Y-yeah. They're just protective when it comes to parties and dates and stuff," she replied quietly. _I guess they had a good reason for it,_ she thought. Levi remained silent. They pulled up to the gated community on the outskirts of Trost and went through the open gate. "I didn't know you lived here," Petra commented as they drove past the stately manor-eque houses with neat landscaping to welcome and intimidate visitors.

"We just moved in about three months ago. My dad died and my mom got a shit ton of money from his will and gets something like compensation every month so she packed up my cousin and I and we moved," he told her.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she told him. _God, that's terrible! I can't believe he's having to go through that,_ she thought sympathetically.

"It's okay, it's not like I knew him that well. His wife was pissed when she found out he left most of his money to my mom, though." _Oh._ He turned into a driveway and into the garage. "My mom and cousin Mikasa are home but they'll probably leave us alone. Just as a heads up, my mom's a little weird."

"All right," Petra replied, unbuckling her seat belt. _Have I gotten in too deep,_ she wondered as she got out of the car. _I don't really know him all that well and he's told me some big stuff. I mean, we've known each other since kindergarten but . . ._ Levi and Petra pulled their shoes off and Levi lead her inside his home. In all her days, Petra never would have imagined him living in a house like this. Pristine whites, shining silvers, gleaming pale golds, and gorgeous grays made up the furniture and decorations. Despite the fact he said they recently moved in the house felt cozy and lived in. It looked a few steps down from a model home, mostly because it felt like people actually lived here opposed to most model homes.

The faint sounds of video game music rolled down from a room upstairs and into the living room and dining room. A woman stood in the kitchen, and from the heavenly scent wafting through the air it smelled like she was making brownies. She looked up from her bowl at the two.

"Levi! You're home early," the woman said, smiling brightly at him. "I thought you were spending the night at Farlan's."

"I was, but turns out his dad did something stupid again and wound up in the hospital so Farlan was there last time I talked to him," he answered.

"I still can't believe his mom even lets his dad hang out with Farlan, but I guess that's their decision," Levi's mom shrugged. "So enough beating around the bush, who's this?" She pointed a batter-covered spoon at Petra.

"This is Petra, she's a friend from school," Levi answered as his mom put her baking utensils down and went to shake Petra's hand. "And no, she's not my girlfriend."

"Way to kill my hopes," she replied with a fake pout before putting her hands on Petra's shoulders. "You can call me Nora, honey. If you need anything at all while you're here, just let me know. I'm very open and I know it's kinda weird 'cause I'm a mom and all, but really if you need anything tell me. I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom," she replied, a large grin on her face. Petra laughed.

"I'm sorry, my mom thinks she's hot shit because she saw _Mean Girls_ once," Levi cut in, a faint smile on his lips.

"I've seen _Mean Girls_ twice, thank you very much!" Nora told him, lightly slapping his arm. "Brownies will be done in fifteen minutes and I'll have stuff set up to make sundaes or ice cream sandwiches. I'd get down here sooner, though. Mikasa is very serious about her desserts, she'll fucking cut a bitch over sprinkles," Nora added to Petra.

"We'll take our chances," Levi said. "Petra and I will be in my room watching movies and I'll be driving her home a little before midnight."

"All right, sounds good. Petra, if you need some dry clothes you could borrow some from Mikasa," Nora offered.

"Thank you," she replied as Levi lead her up the stairs.

"If you want to try and borrow clothes from Mikasa, by all means go ahead. I was just going to give you some of my clothes to wear but do whatever you're more comfortable with," he told her.

"I . . . I'd rather borrow clothes from you," she admitted. _I may not know Levi well, but I'd rather take clothes from a guy I kind of know than from a totally stranger,_ she rationalized.

"All right." He opened a door and flipped a few lights on. Petra wasn't surprised to see how neat his bedroom was, but she was surprised to see how much furniture he had crammed inside. The room didn't look much bigger than average yet he had a huge bed, a nightstand, a dresser, a desk, and a large cabinet full of gaming consoles in his room. He dug through his dresser and pulled out a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. "My bathroom's through that door. The blow dryer's below the sink. Just put it back when you're done and just hang your dress in my shower."

"Thank you."

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go make us tea. You have a preference, or?"

"No, I don't. I'm fine with anything." She walked into his small bathroom and locked the door behind her. She let out a shaky breath and looked at the clothes in her hands. Her situation seemed to hit her like a ton of bricks. Levi, of all people, had picked her up and taken her into his home. He'd reached out to her and made sure she was safe. _I can never repay him,_ she realized, stripping off her dirty wet dress. _He's given me so much, more than I could have ever expected from him, and I don't think I could ever repay this amount of kindness. He's done more for me than my friends have. They haven't texted me to see how I'm doing. They didn't come looking for me. But Levi picked me up and got me somewhere safe._ She fought back tears as she pulled his old T-shirt on. It wasn't warm but it was dry and that's all she cared about.

By the time she managed to dry her hair and panties and get completely changed, Levi was already back in his room, sipping a cup of tea and scrolling through Netflix on his TV, a plate of brownies on his bed beside him.

"Cool, they fit," he commented, eyes quickly surveying her. "I didn't know how you took you tea so I just brought everything up here. It's on my desk."

"Okay. Thank you. For everything, Levi. This means a lot to me," she told him as she quickly made herself a cup of tea.

"Don't mention it."

"No, really," she replied, sitting next to him on his bed. "This means the world to me. You just took me home at the last minute and got me somewhere warm and dry. You put a lot more effort into tonight than other people." A dry ache tore through her throat and her eyes started to tear up. "I barely know you and you've treated me better than my friends or my ex-boyfriend has tonight. I've been planning tonight for months and he knew how much this meant to me and he just stood me up. He didn't even show to our date. He just texted me late saying it was over."

"Well he's a piece of shit," Levi commented bluntly. "You don't deserve having a fuckboy like him or people like that in your life. You're worth better, Petra."

"I just. Tonight was supposed to be the best night of my life," she replied, tears running down her face. "I was so looking forward to this and it felt like everything just came crashing down in seconds."

"You always have next year," he said, not unkindly. "I know it's not the same, but you do have another chance to have that experience."

"I guess," she sniffed, trying to stop herself from crying. Levi leaned over her and pulled a box of tissues out of his nightstand, handing it to her. "Thanks."

"My advice is not beating yourself up about it. It's your douche bag ex's fault, not yours. It sucks you didn't get to go to prom and have fun, and this probably won't be as fun, but you can still enjoy tonight. It's not completely ruined," he pointed out. He paused. "You looked really nice in your dress, by the way," he quietly added before taking a sip of his tea.

"Thanks," she replied, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"So, how about we start that movie marathon. I think watching dumb people making stupid decisions would cheer you up," he said jokingly.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she chuckled.

Watery sunlight filtered into the room and hit Petra's eyelids. She groaned and put her pillow over her face to try and block it out. Her eyes and body were aching as if she hadn't gotten enough sleep. But from the brightness of the sunlight she figured it was time to get up. At first she was shocked to find herself in a different bedroom, but then she remembered last night. She had been dumped, Levi brought her back to his house, and she must've fallen asleep in Levi's room. _Well, at least I'm safe,_ she thought, yawning and stretching her limbs. There was an empty space beside her but from the indentation still in the pillow she figured he couldn't have been awake for long.

Swinging her legs over the side of his bed, she got up and left his room. The savory scent of bacon danced through the air with the sweet smell of pancakes. _He must be downstairs, _Petra thought as she made her way to the kitchen. Nora was at the stove and Mikasa and her friends were at the table eating breakfast.

"Oh, good morning, Petra! I didn't realize you slept over," Nora said brightly.

"Yeah, I guess I fell asleep during our movie marathon," Petra laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. No doubt Nora was feeling iffy about the fact her son had a girl sleep over. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Nah, don't worry about it, cupcake! I don't mind impromptu sleepovers. We've got a pancake buffet going on but you need some good protein. Do you eat eggs?"

"Yeah, I do," she replied, looking around for Levi. He wasn't at the table and he didn't seem to be in the kitchen either.

"How would you like them, then?"

"Scrambled, please. Where's Levi?"

"Oh, he's in the laundry room," Nora told her. "Could you go get him for me? He hasn't had breakfast either. It's down the hall, last door on your left."

"Thank you, I'll go get him." She quickly made her way down the hallway and opened the door to the laundry room. Her prom dress was hanging in front of the window above a small washtub. Levi was on his knees, scrubbing furiously at the hem of it.

"Levi, what are you doing?" she inquired.

"Your dress looked like a hobo shat on it so I thought I'd try and clean it," he said, standing up and admiring his handiwork. "It's still far from being done but I've managed to make some progress."

"You didn't have to do this," she said quietly. The bottom part of the dress was a few words short of a disaster but everything else looked better than when she bought it. The silk was shining, the rhinestones looked like stars. _I can't believe he went through all this trouble to fix my dress. He cares. He really does care about me._

"I couldn't just let your dress get ruined," he shrugged. "If you'll hand me the detergent we can start getting the mud out of the hem."

"We can do it after breakfast. Your mom wants us to go eat," she informed him. He sighed.

"I really didn't want to take a break but Mom will kill me if I don't go have breakfast," he said, walking over to the sink and washing his hands off. "I'll need your help finishing this off and then cleaning my car. I don't want to drive you home in a messy car." _Right, I need to go home . . . Oh no._

"Oh crap, I forget to call my parents and tell them I was sleeping over at a friend's house," she groaned. "They're going to be pissed."

"So, should I _not_ drive you home?" Petra glanced at him. Her parents would have a cow when they saw him taking her home. But she knew the truth, and who knew, maybe her parents wouldn't freak out that badly.

"You know what? No. I'll just call them after breakfast and deal with the consequences of having a boy drive me home." She smiled at him before wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling him into a warm hug.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm giving you a hug," she said, looking up at him. "Thank you for everything you've done, Levi. I really appreciate it."

"Oh my God, Petra, you look so pretty!" Nora said, letting Petra into her house.

"Thank you, Nora," she replied, slipping off her heels and putting them next to Mikasa's shoes in the Ackerman foyer. A year had passed since Levi found Petra crying on the curb and if she was being honest with herself, it was actually a pretty great year once she got over the breakup. Now it was her senior year and prom was tonight and she knew it was going to be great.

"Last time I checked Levi was still getting ready but he should be done by now," Nora said, walking towards the staircase. "LEVI! PETRA'S HERE!"

"COMING!" he yelled back, voice muffled through the walls. Footsteps bounced off the walls as Levi came out of the hallway and hurried down the stairs, tie hanging loosely off of his neck. Petra grinned at him and met him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Here, let me get this for you," she offered.

"Go ahead, I can't tie the fucking thing," he said. She smirked and gave him a quick kiss.

"What would you do without me?" she asked jokingly.

"Go around with an untied tie." She gave him a dark look before cracking a grin.

"There you go, it's done," she said, patting the neat knot she made.

"You both look so adorable," Nora sighed, turning on her camera. "Be sure to take a lot of pictures at prom, okay? And make sure to get a picture with Mikasa, Levi, since I wasn't able to get a picture of you two earlier."

"Got it, Mom," he replied. They let Nora take a few pictures and then left for the garage. The last time Petra had been in his car wearing this dress she had been beyond upset and completely soaked. But now she was ecstatic and looking forward to the night ahead.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she grinned.


End file.
